Author: Leigh Banks

Hate speech online will become a criminal offence under proposed legislation. But there will be a high tolerance before any prosecution. Irish Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has revealed the findings of a consultation on Hate Speech and Hate Crime. And she is expected to launch legislation within the next three months and curtail at… Continue reading Say what thou wilt … that’s the evil that caused the ‘wilting’ of your freedom to speak your mind out

Phil Spector was known as the first Tycoon of Teen. And yet he thought he could ‘improve’ Bob Dylan. It’s hard to say that it is sad that Spector has died aged 81 in squalor and prison, rumoured to have been dispatched into the after-life by Covid. After all, he was a murderer and a… Continue reading Squalid end to Tycoon of Teen Spector… the man who thought he could improve Dylan

As US President-elect Joe Biden outlined his $1.9 trillion Covid-19 relief plan Slovakia has decided on a street-wise way of administering vaccines outdoors in cities and towns. Slovakia’s parliament has decided that ‘jabs’ will be given outside doctor’s surgeries, despite freezing temperatures, to speed up the inoculation process. In the US the pandemic death toll… Continue reading How Slovakia has become street-wise in Covid-19 battle

Derek Buckham is a British singer and songwriter with a career stretching back almost half a century … In the early ‘80s he put together a band called Tokyo Rose with Val Ophfield, Graham Bradley and Geoff Pybus. Their first big gig was Annabels in Sunderland, still Derek’s home town and pretty quickly Tokyo Rose… Continue reading Tokyo Rose’s Derek performs a strident song for our angels in blue…

Donald Trump is a conservative rich white American. And nothing wrong with that … just as there is nothing wrong with being a black and poor American. Forbes estimated Trump’s net worth at $3.1 billion in March 2019. And all we can say is – well done Donald; you are successful and you have the… Continue reading Did Donald finally ‘kill’ the great white American Trump defenders? Questions and answers…

Neil Young says that those who stormed the Capitol building in Washington DC, had been ‘manipulated’. In a message posted to his website, he says:I feel empathy for the people who have been so manipulated and had their beliefs used as political weapons. I may be among them. I wish internet news was two-sided. Both sides… Continue reading Neil Young talks of Trump’s betrayal and says people are not the enemies

The one and only time I met Scott Walker – who would have celebrated his 77th birthday recently – was after one of his solo performances in Manchester. We were both very drunk indeed. But that was the fashionable way to be after midnight all those years ago in the early 1970s. I was working… Continue reading Remembering Mr Invisible…

Leigh makes a fashion statement from Slovakia, Rodney is fooled and these two gentlemen and have a good old rant! #SNOWFASHION #THEYETI #ELECTRICCARS #GERRYMARSDEN #TRUMP #COVID!

Lou Reed said with his usual acid-faced aplomb: ‘If I hadn’t heard rock and roll on the radio, I would have had no idea there was life on this planet.’ And he was right. Is right. Almost all of us, even in this digital age, hear music for the first time on a car radio… Continue reading My my, hey hey, rock ‘n’ roll is here to stay … it’s better to burn out than to fade away … (Neil Young)

I will always remember the five minutes I spent with the funny and mournful John Prine who has died due to complications from coronavirus. (see video inside). He was 73 years old. Prine had been in hospital in Nashville since last week with coronavirus symptoms, with his wife and manager, Fiona Whelan Prine, posting updates… Continue reading Watch John Prine performing one of the reasons I will never forget him